Project 2012 Dieting Strategies

Currently I’m 12 days into my fat burning project for 2012. Technically I started following the Total Six Pack Abs program on March 1st, but I had cleaned up my diet a lot by the middle of February. So about a month of strict eating with now cheats and almost 2 weeks on this specific program.

My goal at the start of this process was to try and lose about 1-2 pounds a week, this insures that the weight lost is mostly fat not muscle. When I did my body comp on the 17th of February I weighed 205 lbs. On March 2nd I weighed 202.5 and just this last Friday I was down to 200.5 lbs. About a month into the project and I’m down about 5 lbs. So far so good.

I’ve had several people contact me wanting to know more about the dieting strategies that I’m using for this cutting cycle. As I’ve mentioned before I’m trying to incorporate some new ideas this time. One program that was mentioned to me by a successful figure competitor was the Total Six Pack Abs program developed by a trainer named Mark McManus (you can learn more about his program here).

The concept of his program is low carbohydrates, high protein and really high amounts of fat. The exact amount of each nutrient as well as overall calories is unique for each individual and the exact equations and steps to figure that out for yourself is included in his program.

I have used low carbohydrate or ketogenic dieting strategies in the past with decent success. My issue has always been that I lose weight too quickly. Yes, to quickly! The problem I’ve always had when cutting my carbohydrates or minimizing them is that I didn’t replace enough of those lost calories via fat or protein. Cutting my calories to severely caused me to burn muscle as well as fat. That’s not my goal this time around. I want to shed as much body fat as possible while retaining as much muscle as possible.

Using the Total six pack abs diet I’m currently eating about 2,560 calories a day. That total is made up of 220 grams of protein, 60 grams of carbohydrates and 160 grams of fat! As I drop weight I re-work the calculations and adjust these numbers so I can continue losing at a rate of 1 pound a week.

At the end of this week I get to start implementing 1 carb load day a week. So far I haven’t caved in to my sugar cravings, but I’m sure I’ll have my moments of weakness in the weeks to come. The increased fat has definitely helped fight those cravings so who knows, maybe I’ll be able to hold out. That’s all for now, feel free to post any questions or comments on my Facebook page.

A Note About Weighing In: When you weigh yourself you want to account for factors that can affect your weight. Those factors include the time of day that you weigh in, eating or drinking food, having a full stomach or bladder etc. It’s obvious to me that you will weigh less in the morning, before eating, on an empty stomach having gone to the bathroom if need be.

You also want to have either nothing on or the same exact same thing on each time you weigh yourself. For this project I weigh myself once a week each Friday morning under the circumstances listed above. Controlling these factors is the only way to get an accurate measurement of your weight and monitor your progress.